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I frequent a few other drum forums now and then and I've notice one drummer being discussed or favored over & over--Danny Carey from Tool.
Can anyone else share some thoughts on him? I think it's good to keep up with the current scene...even though I almost never listen to commercial clear channel radio.
He seems to be highly respected froma wide range of drummers.
IMO, Danny Carey reputation kind of suffers from what I would like to call "the Mike Portnoy syndrome", being a state which a drummer of some talent reaches the public eye via their popular respective band, and thusly gets cast into some weird drum god status...which is fine by me, but what I don't get is when people rave about MP all the time... he's a decent player, but I just find his drumming to be very predictable, dull and filled with rock cliches...
Danny, on the other hand is a more accomplished player... not one of my favourites by far, but still has some cool stuff going for him (like playing with the snares of most of the time, TB ripoff but what the hey... nice singles around the kit and some intresting beats, good odd time phrasing...)
all in all, your aspiring teenage rock drummer could do a whole lot worse than to pick Carey as a role model for their drumming endeavors...
I remember once on the toolsite Blair(webmaster) said something about how Danny paid for dinner once with an all black custom credit card and the waitress looked at him and asked "Why is it all black? "to which Danny replied, "Because I'm Satan." I always thought that was really funny. [img]cool.gif[/img]
Anyways IMO Tool is pretty much the most "entertaining" band in the mainstream, they pretty much "melt" all their influences(from Crimson to Metallica)and somehow still retain a part of themselves......Carey's drumming is pretty elastic too(listen to "Ticks and Leeches")and the guy definately has sum independence chops and the ability to puncuate different accents with his body(in an odd time manner)and his fills are pretty much standards for rock/metal, decent double bass chops(but contrary to others, has the ability to go from breaking speed and slow the tempo down which IMO is incredible)listen to the song "Anima"..
ohh he's taking tabla classes with Bozzio's teacher(I forgot his name)and has him sampled on his electronic pads.....that alone goes to show that the guy is definately INTO drums and not just another n00b playing pop punk on eMpTyV [img]rolleyes.gif[/img]
And u gotta remember to take things in context most of the people who frequent those boards havent played drums for more than 10 years and the language of say Weckl or Colaiuta(and the music itself)isn't gonna appeal as much as say Tool or Blink 182, so they look into those drummes for an influence(and break down all their beats/patterns, somehow one would hope they would get bored and move on heheh!). With drummers like Carey one would hope those people would look back at his influences and also study them(and listen to them)
that's how I see it [img]smile.gif[/img]
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ May 30, 2003 09:23 PM: Message edited by: Bozzio ]</font>
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ May 30, 2003 09:28 PM: Message edited by: Bozzio ]</font>
Danny Carey is earning the reputation among young drummers that Neil Peart enjoyed in the 80s. I have all of Tool's CDs; one reason is because Danny Carey kicks butt. But he's a very oddball cat into the occult and has pentangles painted on his drumheads and other kidstuff.
Pocket, I'll get you a copy of Lateralus, Tool's latest, gimme a week or so. Otey?
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor=""><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">But he's a very oddball cat into the occult and has pentangles painted on his drumheads and other kidstuff.</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>
Kids Stuff? Come on Man!
I know a good deal about it for insterests sake. And it's not an evil thing, just a lot of metaphysic stuff, yoga teachings and mantras and magical ritual for the sake of helping to visualize your intended goals in life. Much like someone might meditate on a picture or something in hopes of clearing their mind or finding the one thing in their mind they want to focus on. As far as it being real and believing in it. I think the only way to really say it is that it's like anything in religions or unexplained things. There are thought to be certain geometric shapes that are in line so perfectly with mathmatics (what many consider to be the voice of the universe) and those shapes and are so perfectly alligned that one can harness certain energies in the universe itself. Danny has experimented with this for years. It's very much the same thing as how the Bible discusses the dimensions of Soloman's Temple being so perfect that God could reside there. Such shapes and dimensions are deemed "Holy" or Sacred and thus, Sacred Geometry. That is just the really super dumbed down version so that people can understand it easily.
I think those are going to believe in something like that are going to and they will see/hear/feel and deal with things that others might not believe in at all. Someone might feel Jesus in them when they pray, others might think the person is nuts. Danny might hear voices from somewhere in space and time and the universe and those who will believe will and those who won't won't. But it's not evil, not Satanic, and in the end, to each their own, I guess. [img]cool.gif[/img]
Pentangles painted on your drumheads is kidstuff to a man my age. Black credit cards and "I am Satan" is kidstuff, for Goth's sake. [img]smile.gif[/img] I didn't slag off Carey, he's pretty damned good IMO, plus I paid for Tool's CDs and didn't get 'em off the net for free so I feel entitled to my (not uninformed) opinion.
Danny's a fantastic player IMO. I've got all their stuff and a good friend of mine is one of the top boot collectors on the net so I've seen and heard a ton of live material as well.
Certainly one of the more interesting bands in the popular scene. It'd be great to see more bands gaining success by trying to be good players and write interesting music.
heh I didn't mean to insult you(u know i love you so heheh)but what I meant was that you shouldn't comment on something like THAT unless you're informed about it(the pentagrams), im not talking about Carey's drumming perse...
Tool's approach to controversial subjects and their lyrics are witty(ok maybe not to someone your age. When the band started to become sucessful and gain sum recognition after "Undertow" the media started questioning their motifs and neatpicking on everything they did(much like they did with Floyd-to whom their stage persona seems to be modeled after).....so Maynard adopted the sarcastic approach with songs like "Die Eier Von Satan"(the lyrics are a cookie recipe....doesn't have ANYTHING to do with Satan)and pretended they followed an ocult religion called Lacrimology(or something like that)-it's the study of "crying" but it was a hoax.....(tho their fans actually did sum research and try to get "into it")
"There are thought to be certain geometric shapes that are in line so perfectly with mathmatics (what many consider to be the voice of the universe) and those shapes and are so perfectly alligned that one can harness certain energies in the universe itself."
WTF?!
I meant pentagrams not pentangles (whatever, it's kidstuff) but I'm an old fart (same age as that Colaiuta character) and haven't had my Geritol. I did crowd surf at Boxcar Racer, I think Travis is the shit too.
Now you must excuse me, Noel, I gotta use my walker to get over to my drums so I can practice my 324 BPM double bass shuffle, I can only do it for a half hour now instead of an hour, like I used to. [img]cool.gif[/img]